Hike #381 10/26/8
The group on Mt. Parnassus
10/26/8 Morris Canal/Phillipsburg to Washington with Matt Davis, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Shelly Janes, Rich Pace, Jean Fletcher, Jim Lee Jr., Jason Itell, Brenda Holzinger, and ?.
Northampton Street Free Bridge
Starting off
Meeting point at Meadow Breeze Park, Brass Castle
Meadow Breeze Park
Meeting for the hike in Meadow Breeze Park
Northampton Street Free Bridge
Former LHR trestle
Structure next to the P Burg Morris Canal arch
Atop the Morris Canal arch
Former CNJ trestle
Former CNJ trestle
Former CNJ trestle next to the canal arch
Former CNJ trestle
Former CNJ trestle
Former CNJ trestle
Train crossing Former CNJ trestle
Former CNJ trestle
Atop the Morris Canal arch
Morris Canal arch, Phillipsburg
The base of Inclined Plane #11 West, Phillipsburg
Inclined Plane #11 West
Morris Canal arch, Phillipsburg
At the Morris Canal arch
Matt's on TV again!
Former LV trestle in P Burg
Historic marker along the old canal
Mt. Parnassus
View of former canal pond in P Burg from Mt. Parnassus
Mt. Parnassus
View from Mt. Parnassus, former Morris Canal lagoon at the top of Plane 11
On Mt. Parnassus, former Morris Canal below
Excursion train passing us in P Burg
Locomotive approaching on the old Bel Del
Locomotive on the old Bel Del
Locomotive on the old Bel Del
Locomotive on the old Bel Del
Locomotive approaching on the old Bel Del
The Morris Canal once passed through here, now the yard of an elementary school in Phillipsburg. The disturbance in the surface is barely recognizable.
Aptly named street in Phillipsburg
Green's Bridge
Green's Bridge
Pier for the predescessor of the current LV trestle next to Green's Bridge
Here one can see how the tow ropes wore away at the edge of the pier for a century. I am standing on the base of the former towpath, still unrotted in the water.
Former towpath under the railroad trestle next to Green's Bridge
Wear marks on the pier from mule tow ropes
Historic marker near Green's Bridge
Lock Ten site at Green's Bridge
Green's Bridge
Phillipsburg
South Main Street, P Burg
Lock Street, P Burg
Expedia....DOT COM!
Lock Street in Phillipsburg area with James E. lee Jr.
Mr. Lee gives us canal history
Mr. Lee points out the original route of Inclined Plane #10 West. It was originally a standard water wheel prior to the Scotch Turbine used in later planes.
Mr. Lee guides us along the Morris Canal route, which is at this point parallel with Lock Street out of Phillipsburg
Mr. Lee gives the history of the canal
Mr. Lee imparting historic knowledge
James Lee Jr. along the Morris Canal giving us an historic run down
Crossing Rt 22 at the canal site
Crossing Rt 22
Descending from Rt 22
Morris Canal near Stryker's Crossing
Morris Canal near Stryker's Crossing
View near Stryker's Crossing
Lunch stop
Real big Sycamore along the Morris Canal
Picking wild grapes along Morris Canal
Wild grapes along Morris Canal
Wild grapes
Morris Canal near Stryker's Crossing
Morris Canal near Stryker's Crossing
Along the Morris Canal
Morris Canal near Stryker's Crossing
Following the Morris Canal
Tracing the Morris Canal route nearing Port Warren
Audobon property view near Port Warren
Farm view near Port Warren
Following parallel to the Morris Canal's overgrown route
Old house near Port Warren
Mr. Lee shows us his father's book on the canal to compare with the current site
Plane 9 West
At Plane 9
Base of Inclined Plane #9W
At Inclined Plane #9 West
The group with Jim Lee Jr. at the base of Inclined Plane #9 West
Jim Lee Sr. had a great sense of humor. One of his little jokes was this "Spring" which he kept along his driveway.
Mr. Lee's Spring
It's not a natural spring
Spring!
Tail race tunnel at Inclined Plane #9 West
Tail race tunnel at plane 9W
Mr. Lee gives us a history talk at Plane 9
Tail race at Plane 9
Mr. Lee giving us a history talk
Entering the tail race tunnel
Plane 9W tail race tunnel
Inside the tail race tunnel
Inside the tail race tunnel
Inside the tail race tunnel
Inside the tail race tunnel
Inside the tail race tunnel
Turbine chamber
The Scotch Turbine
Mr. Lee in the turbine chamber
Scotch Turbine
Scotch Turbine chamber
In the turbine chamber
Mr. Lee in the turbine chamber
Plane 9 Turbine Chamber
In the turbine chamber
Looking up from the turbine chamber
Mr. Lee explains to us how the Scotch Turbine worked
In the turbine chamber
In the turbine chamber
The Morris Canal turbine chamber, Plane 9W
Turbine chamber
Turbine chamber
Jason video tapes the walk through the tail race tunnel
In the turbine chamber
Turbine chamber
Tail race tunnel
Tail race exit for plane 9
Former turbine top, destroyed
Canal museum at plane 9
Plane 9 Lee museum
Mr. Lee showing us historic documents
James E Lee Jr. with his grandfather's conch shell he used on his canal boat
Mr. Lee and his grandfather's conch shell
Top of plane 9W
Top of inclined plane #9W
Top of plane 9
Former Morris Canal heading east
Former Morris Canal east of Port Warren
Former Morris Canal just west of Stewartsville
Mr. Buckett!
Former Morris Canal
Farm view. Jason is out there. Maybe this is why we got rushed by bubbas.
Following the former canal
Mr. Buckett has some buckets
Former canal crossing at Stewartsville
Using the rail bridge to get to the next section of canal
Former Morris and Essex rail bridge, Stewartsville
Junk shop on Rt 57
Historic marker
What used to be "Custers Last Stand"
Bread Lock Park
Morris Canal at Bread Lock Park
Bread Lock Park
Morris Canal on Sigler Farm, Broadway
Former Morris Canal aqueduct on Sigler Farm in Broadway
Former Morris Canal Aqueduct on Sigler Farm in Broadway
Former Morris Canal heading east from Millbrook Road in Broadway
The Morris Canal prism from Millbrook Road in New Village heading east
Sunset over the corn
It's neat to look back on this, I wrote the following journal entry a couple years ago and I didn't really concentrate on it much. Dave Deitrick from the Warren County Board of Rec had asked me to re-lead my Morris Canal hike series to show use along the route. I agreed to start over with the series of hikes along the canal across the state. We'd only reached as far as Lake Hopatcong when we'd started the series before and the hikes were pretty good, so this time I decided we'd do one hike on the canal per month till we got it done. Though it took a little longer than planned, this time we'd actually finish the series of hikes and I really ended up enjoying it before we reached the end.
Here's the original journal entry:
For my next hike I would once again lead the Morris Canal hike from Phillipsburg to Washington. During the Spring of 2008 I was asked by members of the Warren County Planning board as well as James E Lee Jr. to re lead the series to promote use of the former canal. I set the date and arranged for Jim Lee Jr. to join us for part of the hike, as well as Brenda Holzinger from the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference to help with the trail initiative. I met my group in the morning at Meadow Breeze Park in Washington. Joining me this time were Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Shelly Janes, Jason Itell, Rich Pace, Al MacLennan, Larry LaRue, Hsin Chien Tai, and newcomers Brenda Holzinger, ?, and ? We shuttle cars to the boat launch near Union Square Phillipsburg to begin. We spent some time going over the route and history here (0-0ad). Jason was taking some videos as we proceeded as well. We walked down the former Bel Del tracks heading south to the former Inclined Plane 11W site. I pointed out some historically significant stuff and we climbed around on the abandonment (0b-2d) as a train went by above on the former CNJ bridge. We then walked up the former inclinded plane to the former LV Railroad underpass where my friend Ron Short passed away a few years earlier (2e). We crossed the tracks where the bridge underpass used to be, and entered the park property with the paved path following the canal route (2eaa) and wandered to Mt Parnassus where we took a side trip up to admire the view (2eab-2f). We then continued along the former canal route and made our way to the Bel Del tracks where we passed by the steam locomotive (3-3cab). We continued on the tracks to an access path leading to McKeen Street I think it was. We followed the streets out to South Main Street, which we followed until we reached the elementary school which had the former canal in it's front yard (4). On the other side of the school yard, we followed Morris Canal Way (4aaa) which was built in the former canal. We then wandered along the abandonment and then around a sewage treatment plant to reach South Main Street again along the former canal. We continued down the street to Green's Bridge (5-5aaa). We could see older piers from the bridge which would have originally carried the Easton and Amboy Railroad (predecessor of the Lehigh Valley Railroad; 5aab). I walked onto the former towpath bridge and we could see the grooves for the tow ropes in the piers (5b-5cac). There was a guy working along the route I wanted to take to the next canal section, so we had to go around on South Main Street. A guy standing on the property adjacent to it gave us a brief history lecture on how his garage was once a hay loft of some sort because of a door he'd found on it way back (5cad,5d). We wandered on to Lock Street passing the site of former locks, with really no remnants, then headed toward Jim Lee Jr's house (5e,5f). Mr. Lee met us at the bottom of his driveway next to the tail race tunnel of Inclined Plane #10W.
He gave us a history lecture on the area (6,7) and then took us to the top of the inclined plane. His driveway was the original water powered inclined plane before the refitting of the canal circa 1840 (8). We walked the road briefly because the canal section was overgrown and Mr. Lee's relative who used to live in one of the houses on it had passed away and we no longer had permission. Mr. Lee pointed out lots of things along the way (8ada,8adb) and then we entered the woods on the canal where Lock Street turned away (8adc-9). We continued to Rt 22, which we quickly had to dash across and climb down the embankment (9aaa-9aac). We walked the former canal from here pretty well, and more closely than I ever had in the past, toward Stryker's Road. We crossed the road heading toward an aqueduct site, and took a side trip up to a deli for some snacks (9aad-9aag). Along the canal we had earlier found fallen branches with wild grapes growing on them, and so we ate a bunch (11a-11aaa). The canal was nice by Stryker's Road, but we had to cut away from it onto land maintained by the Nature Conservancy on the north side heading toward plane #9W (12aab-14). We came out at a county-owned farm which was beautiful but in great disrepair (15). We were then at the base of plane 9 where Mr. Lee gave us more lectures on the area (15aaa-16).
We made a stop at a "Spring" placed by his father along the plane as a joke (17-17ab). We made our way up to the tail race tunnel (18-19), and after a bit more history talk, we entered (19b-20) leading to the penstock chamber and the old scotch turbine (21-26). We then headed back out (27-27ac) and up to the top where the buildings would have stood and lots of artifacts were out (27b). Jim Lee III still lives in the plane tender's house, once owned by Jim Lee Sr. and deeded to the county. Jim Lee III is now the care taker (27c-27cab). There is a small museum to the canal inside now, which is very nice. Jim Lee Jr. demonstrated how canal boaters would alert plane and lock tenders of their arrival by blowing into his great grandfather's chonch shell (28-28a)! We walked from here to the top of the plane (29-29aaa) and talked history with Mr. Lee a bit more, then bid him farewell. The rest of us continued through the fields (29b-30). Jason ran out into the middle of one of the fields to retrieve a bucket for Mr. Buckett to carry around like he did on his first hike with me in June of 2004 (34a).
We had to parallel the canal in the adjacent fields because it was too overgrown, which caught the attention of some "bubbas" who came running and screaming at us (see video). They yelled and said we were trespassing, and I told them it was a county easement. All the guy had to say was "WELL STAY ON THE CANAL THEN!". We soon reached North Main Street in Stewartsville (34aba) and continued across the fields on the other side parallel to the canal. We crossed over Merril Creek, some using the nearby railroad bridge (34abb,34abc). We followed Prospect Ave to Rt 57 where there was construction going on. We stopped by a small junk shop there on the corner and looked at stuff. Shelly wandered right on into the place and the guy was cool about it, but followed her in suspiciously (34abd). We continued walking Rt 57 on the concrete mile (34abe) and stopped by the little ice cream stand which used to be "Custers Last Stand" (34b). We walked the highway to Bread Lock Park for the next walkeable section of canal (35-35aab) and Rich and Hsin Chien cut out early. The rest of us walked the towpath back out to Rt 57 and opted to walk the highway instead of the canal itself because it was so bad in there in terms of weeds. We had to follow 57 all the way to Whites Road where we picked up the section owned by Carl Sigler, which is beautiful with a former aqueduct site on it (36-38). I ran up the road as quick as I could to give a liability waiver to Mr. Sigler (I actually gave it to a blonde lady there) and then ran back down. Across the street we tried to follow another section of canal, but it was a hot mess of stickers, so we turned back. We were right next to a house, and no one stopped us fortunitely (39). We walked along Mill Brook Road into Broadway, then Rt 57 to reach Meadow Breeze Park in Washington to finish the hike.
Mr. Buckett
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